The Supreme Court of India delivered a significant judgment on family disputes related to dowry, emphasizing that a woman’s “Stridhan” is her sole property, and her father cannot claim its recovery from her in-laws without her explicit permission. The case, presided over by Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol, addressed issues of criminal breach of trust involving a complaint by Padala Veerbhadra Rao from Telangana.
Rao had accused his daughter’s former in-laws of failing to return the dowry given at the time of her marriage in 1999. The complaint emerged despite the daughter’s divorce in 2015 and her remarriage in 2018. Rao’s legal action was viewed as a misuse of the criminal justice system, meant to bring justice, not to serve personal vendettas.
The bench reiterated the established legal framework stating that a woman, whether a wife or ex-wife, holds exclusive rights over her Stridhan. It was concluded that since Rao’s daughter was alive, well, and capable of making her own decisions, her father had no rightful claim over the dowry items.
In January 2021, Rao filed an FIR under IPC Section 406 for criminal breach of trust and the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961. Despite the Telangana High Court finding the allegations prima facie worth considering in December 2022, the Supreme Court dismissed the proceedings against the former in-laws, stating the FIR lacked merit several years post-divorce and remarriage.
